Integrated circuits find application in many of today's consumer electronics, such as cell phones, video cameras, portable music players, printers, computers, etc. Integrated circuits may include a combination of active devices, passive devices and their interconnections.
Active devices are typically comprised by metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices, which generally include a semiconductor substrate, having a source, a drain, and a channel located between the source and drain. A gate stack composed of a conductive material (i.e., a gate) and an oxide layer (i.e., a gate oxide) are typically located directly above the channel. During operation, an inversion layer forms a conducting bridge or “channel” between the source and drain when a voltage is applied to the gate. Both p-channel and n-channel MOSFET technologies are available and can be combined on a single substrate in one technology, called complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor or CMOS.
Scaling of CMOS configurations has become a major challenge for the semiconductor industry. To obtain high performance and consistent operation of these CMOS structures, a form of vertical device isolation has been developed to help control latchup and parasitic capacitance problems, which are common for these structures. This form of vertical device isolation is commonly referred to as silicon-on-insulator (SOI). SOI technology is based on an insulator layer (typically an oxide) that has been buried within a silicon substrate, thereby effectively electrically isolating any devices formed on the upper silicon surface. However, SOI type devices are not without their own problems, as they are commonly plagued by self-heating and external series resistance problems that can degrade the performance of these devices.
Thus, a need still remains for a reliable integrated circuit system and method of fabrication, wherein the integrated circuit system exhibits a reduction in self-heating, a lower external series resistance, improved short channel effect control, and/or a reduction in sidewall junction capacitance under a gate. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, increasing consumer expectations, and diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. Moreover, the ever-increasing need to save costs, improve efficiencies, and meet such competitive pressures adds even greater urgency to the critical necessity that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.